Incense is fragrant material burned for its scented smoke. Sticks, cones and coils are lit directly: you light the tip, blow out the flame and let a glowing ember smolder through the rest. Loose resin cannot burn on its own and needs a separate heat source.
The main forms
Sticks come in two kinds. Cored sticks have a thin bamboo core coated in incense paste, the main form in India. Solid sticks have no core, as in the Tibetan, Nepali and Japanese ways of making sticks.
Cones are incense paste pressed into a small cone and lit at the point. Backflow cones are hollow, with a channel that opens through a hole in the base. Coils are incense shaped into a spiral without a core. Loose incense, such as grains of resin, is sprinkled onto lit charcoal in a censer.
How to light a stick or cone
Hold a match or lighter to the tip until it catches and the end begins to turn to ash. Then blow or fan out the flame. A glowing ember and a thin line of smoke mean the incense is lit. If the tip goes dark, light it again.
A stick holder grips the stick and catches the falling ash. A cone sits point up on a heat-proof dish or burner. Fire services advise a sturdy, heat-resistant holder on a stable surface where it cannot be knocked over.
Why backflow smoke flows down
A backflow cone sits over the hole in a backflow burner. At first its smoke rises like any other. When the burning edge reaches the hollow channel, smoke escapes down into it instead of being carried straight up by the hot air above the ember. Inside the channel it has time to cool. Smoke carries tiny particles, so once it cools the smoky air is heavier than the air around it and pours down over the burner. Drafts break up the stream, so it flows best in still air.
That is the explanation science presenter Steve Mould tested on video. Other accounts also credit air pressure or the shape of the burner's channels.
Burning incense safely
Never leave burning incense unattended, and put it out before you leave the room or go to sleep. Keep it at least 12 inches from anything that can burn, such as curtains, clothing and paper, and out of reach of children and pets.
Air the room while incense burns and afterward. Incense smoke adds fine particles to indoor air. A U.S. EPA literature review found that burning incense releases particulate matter and raises indoor levels of carbon monoxide and benzene.
Incense in Buddhist practice
Buddhists burn incense at daily rites, festivals and initiations. A Tibetan altar sets out seven bowls and a lamp for the gifts a host gave an honored guest in the Buddha's India: water to drink, water to wash the feet, flowers, incense, light, scented oil, food and music. In Theravada practice, the scent of burning incense stands for the fragrance of moral conduct. For one classic incense wood, see our sandalwood guide.
In Chinese temples, sticks are often offered in threes. Chinese Buddhist teachers explain the three as offerings to the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Some, such as Venerable Honghai, add that the three also stand for precepts, concentration and wisdom.
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